Cosatu consider e-toll protest in North-west

"A meeting is underway with the police ... we will brief workers shortly," North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe said.

The union federation wanted to hold an overnight protest to demand that the toll fees be reduced from R71 to R20 for a standard car, or scrapped.

The parties were meeting at the Swartruggens police station.
Phetoe said the Kgetleng local municipality had not granted permission for the protest.

In a statement on December 28, Phetoe said the protest was going ahead as planned, from 2pm until late.

He said the municipality only responded when the Congress of SA Trade Unions asked about the application on December 27. "We were told that we must postpone due to holidays and we are not agreeing to that. We have followed the procedure and we are going ahead with our action and we are ready to be arrested if it is the plan from the municipality to arrest us."

Phetoe said they were still waiting for the national and provincial governments to respond to their memorandums. – Sapa